The “Trade Mispricing in Africa” Dialogue Forum will examine the challenges and opportunities
involved in curtailing trade misinvoicing and combatting IFFs in Africa. In so doing, the Forum
will seek to highlight the scale and development challenges, particularly of trade mispricing on
the continent. It will further provide insight into the policy imperatives required for African
countries to combat trade mispricing.

Illicit financial flows (IFFs) pose a significant development challenge for Africa. The 2015
African Union Commission/United Nations Economic Commission for Africa “Report of the High
Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa” notes that over the last 50 years, Africa is
estimated to have lost in excess of $1 trillion in illicit financial flows – a sum which is roughly
equivalent to all the official development assistance received by Africa during the same
timeframe. The Report points out that Africa is estimated to be losing more than $50 billion
annually in IFFs, but that these estimates fall short of reality because accurate data does not
exist for all African countries. The amount lost annually by Africa through IFFs is likely to
exceed $50 billion by a significant amount. While IFFs on the continent take places through
several means, including inter alia abusive transfer pricing, trade mispricing, misinvoicing of
services and intangibles, aggressive tax avoidance and illegal export of foreign exchange- it
would appear that trade mispricing is the largest component of IFFs.